G6pD Deficiency Classifications

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase or G6pD deficiency is a hereditary disorder that affects the body’s red blood cells. G6pD is one of the body systems’ many enzymes crucial in the processing of carbohydrates into energy.


Apart from this, this useful enzyme keeps red blood cells protected from any harmful byproducts extracted from certain medications and foods and when the body is recuperating from infection. People who are deficient in G6pD either do not have enough G6pD in their red blood cells (RBC) or the produced enzymes do not function properly. When the RBCs lack this essential enzyme, they can be damaged easily. This may result to Hemolytic anemia, which takes place when the bone marrow is not able to compensate with RBC loss by increasing its RBC production.

There are 5 classifications of G6pD Deficiency and the World Health Organization classifies them as:

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1. Severe deficiency (<10% activity) with chronic (nonspherocytic) hemolytic anemia
2. Severe deficiency (<10% activity), with intermittent hemolysis
3. Mild deficiency (10-60% activity), hemolysis with stressors only
4. Non-deficient variant, no clinical sequelae
5. Increased enzyme activity, no clinical sequelae